Antics of a Frustrated Pony

NOTE: I wrote this post almost 2 weeks ago, but had trouble uploading the video, so here we are in rewind again. I re-created the video in iMovie and added music, titles, credits-the whole 9 yards. I have yet to figure out how to get it to work on the blog, so for now, you will just have to imagine Ranger's antics accompanied by "Don't Fence Me In" as performed by Riders In The Sky.

With Ranger having to be confined so much due to his lovely case of laminitis, he has been expressing his frustrations in interesting ways. If you know this horse, you know how pushy, unafraid, dominant, and bull-headed he can be. He is also too smart for his own good...he is one of those Houdini horses. The other day, the other two horses were turned out and Ranger was sick and tired of being in his stall and his outdoor pen. He almost managed to carry out his well-devised prison escape...he pushed on the right side of the pen until the panels were on top of his trough where he could stick his head under and eat grass. Then he kept pushing until the water trough was outside his pen. Crazy caballo!...sorry for the lack of photo quality, they were taken with my phone's camera.


Also, a few weeks ago, we had a couple of intermittent days when Ranger came up pretty sore (lame). He had a little bit of swelling in his pasterns along with the lameness. My vet advised Bute and periodic soaking in cold water. Ranger...stand still long enough for a soaking?...yeah, right! But, he actually was a perfect gentleman about it and stood in the water for 20 minutes at a time. I did have a hay bag at the perfect distance away from him on the fence to keep him occupied. I was still impressed. I strongly believe that horses KNOW when you are trying to help them. I had a similar experience with one of my first horses when he nearly cut one of his front feet off on a strand of barbed wire. He was a little bit unpredictable and once a farrier (while I was not present) had to sedate him to trim his feet. However, when treating him month after month with multiple daily hydro-therapy sessions and medications, he would stand perfectly still for me to do all of his treatments...without being haltered!! I think it is the same for Ranger. He knows when he is in pain, that I am there to help alleviate it. Here he is being a good boy for mama.